The Brazilian scene – II

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By BENICIO VIERO SCHMIDT*

Comments on recent events

The government was largely victorious in the elections for the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies and for the Federal Senate. In both cases, the neoconservative agenda is reinforced, which indicates – in view of the strong presence of evangelical forces – a brutal return, in terms of Brazilian human rights policy and also the recognition of international treaties on gender, environment. -environment and so on.

There is a significant difference between the result of the Senate election and that of the House election. The Senate elected a president who has different positions in relation to state-owned companies than those defended by the economic apparatus of government. This should generate some friction, especially in view of the already announced possibility of privatizing Correios and Eletrobrás. In the Federal Chamber, Arthur Lira must adopt more subordinate positions to the government. This means that an agenda with frightening conflicts can be foreseen, especially with regard to the identity theme.

In fact, in general terms, the result means that Centrão assumes a kind of co-government with President Jair M. Bolsonaro and his managers. More than strengthening Bolsonaro, it is about strengthening Centrão as a participant in the government decision-making process.

It is also worth mentioning – in view of the imminence of the 2022 election – the self-reproduction movement of parliamentarians; all worried about his re-election next year, whether for new executive positions or for representative positions in the National Congress. It should also be noted that these elections weakened the so-called third way, which was being brought together for the 2022 elections with the participation of the PSDB and DEM in particular. This front is nominally fractured and will have to be reconfigured in the coming months if it wants to be a strong electoral alternative in 2022.

On the other hand, the battle over vaccines continues, in which the lack of strategy and operationalization on the part of the Federal Government is highlighted. This even failed in the long attempt of almost twenty days by the Minister of Foreign Affairs with the US government to achieve oxygen transport to Manaus, the region hardest hit proportionally by the pandemic. The country decided to stay at the bottom of the list of 98 countries that treat the situation brought about by Covid-19 better than Brazil. The set of facts presented at this moment is not at all encouraging.

To wax. The battle for the environment not only remains, but intensifies, now with the effective participation of the European Parliament – ​​and with emphatic manifestations of its Euro-deputies, led by the French bench – in the battle to monitor and monitor the Brazilian production of vegetable protein.

*Benicio Viero Schmidt is a retired professor of sociology at UnB. Author, among other books, of The State and urban policy in Brazil (LP&M).

 

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